Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. lens : The new Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. launched by Leica Camera AG, Solms, represents a new milestone in lens design. It is the successor of the famous Noctilux-M 50mm f/1 marketed by Leica for over 30 years from 1975 onwards. Thanks to state-of-the-art optical and mechanical technology Leica has now been able to make substantial improvements to the predecessor product. It has even been possible to “break the optical sound barrier” of lens speed 1:1. The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. offers a unique performance spectrum: A noticeably higher lens speed has been achieved without any major alterations to the size of the lens.

Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 lens improvements
The characteristic rendering of the previous 50mm f/1, valued by many users as a means of creative photography, has been retained with extremely shallow depth of field at full aperture. What is new is that when stopped down, the lens performs comparably with the Leica SUMMILUX-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. launched in 2004 and meanwhile regarded as the best standard lens ever produced. On top of this, the vignetting and distortion values have again been improved on the predecessor model.

Leica Noctilux-M 50 mm for creative photography
“The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. is not only a unique high-performance lens in the M system. It combines extremely high speed with imaging performance that can easily bear comparison with the other top lenses currently on the market. It is made of high-quality materials and intricately assembled by hand at the Solms factory to give a particularly reliable product that will retain its value for decades. The combination of state-of-the-art technology and meticulous craftsmanship based on skill and experience ensure the constant quality of every single Leica lens, once again widening the creative potential of Leica M photography“, says Stefan Daniel, Product Manager for the Leica M system at Leica Camera AG.

Leica Noctilux 50mm for a wide range of applications
The new Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. Lens can be used for a particularly wide range of applications. At full aperture the lens features an extremely shallow depth of field, allowing incomparably esthetic portraits or detail studies, for example. The lens is also useful for available light photography, even surpassing the speed of the human eye. In normal light, it can be unhesitatingly used as a universal lens. The extremely natural effect of the 50mm focal length enables a true-to-life rendition of the subject.

Leica Noctilux-M 50mm integrates 8 lens elements
The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm lens integrates eight elements arranged in a double Gauss design symmetrical to the aperture. To ensure the high imaging performance, two aspherical lens surfaces are used, which are manufactured in a complex grinding and polishing process at the Solms factory due to their size and shape. Five of the glass elements exhibit partial anomalous dispersion, three of them are extremely highly refractive and therefore exceptionally expensive (the price per kilogram of this glass is roughly twice that of silver). An outstanding performance in the close-focus range is also guaranteed by a floating element, the last lens group of which changes its relative position to the rest of the system during focusing.

Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. lens availability
Despite its higher speed and imaging performance, the Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. is still equipped with an E60 filter thread and a telescopic lock-on lens hood. Like the new SUMMILUX-M 21 mm and 24 mm f/1.4 ASPH. lenses, the new Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. has to be manufactured to extremely narrow tolerances. New methods for centering and adjusting the lens elements were developed for this purpose. The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. will be on sale at Leica stockists’ from February 2009.